Shore Up Plan For City's Future

Opinion

Our Position: Making Good Decisions Is Critical As Sanford Proceeds With Waterfront Development.

July 22, 2001

For decades, Sanford watched from afar as south Seminole County experienced explosive growth. But the city no longer finds itself on the sidelines. Sanford has joined the game. Decisions being made now will define the city for the new century.

Those decisions must be the right ones. A new Sanford is on the verge of rising on the shores of Lake Monroe. The city needs to adjust to the future without throwing out the past.

Any redevelopment effort should keep in mind that Sanford's small-town feel and its waterfront are two assets that cannot be duplicated or reclaimed once lost. Too easily the city could turn into just another mishmash of nondescript architectural styles, glitzy adornments, and other monuments to the dreary sameness that urban sprawl spreads over the landscape.

Great care should be exercised, therefore, as the city remakes its waterfront with the RiverWalk project and downtown revitalization. Work should proceed without destroying the charm that only a respect for historic buildings and a genuine small-town atmosphere can generate.

Many of those decisions are at hand, as workers prepare to pour concrete.

Phase One of the waterfront plan, running downtown along the lakefront on Seminole Boulevard from Mellonville Avenue to French Avenue, is well under way. Plans also are in the works for improving First Street between Oak and Sanford avenues in the heart of the downtown business district.

Phase Two, which will extend the RiverWalk from French Avenue to the Central Florida Zoo along U.S. Highway 17-92, also is coming along.

Besides road improvements and other amenities, the RiverWalk work in both phases will include new sea walls. The first phase, which is fully funded, will cost about $7 million. The second, which will depend partly on voters' extending the extra penny county sales tax in September, will cost approximately $6 million.

Other aspects include detailed plans for all of the major downtown streets regarding landscaping, street materials, sidewalks, lighting fixtures and guidelines for building new structures or renovating existing ones.

Fortunately, the city is taking a comprehensive approach to remaking itself. Separating what happens on the waterfront from what happens to the rest of downtown would be a mistake.

One interesting aspect of the planning is the city's decision to ask its consultants to come up with two plans for Fort Mellon Park: one with a hotel-conference center, the other without.

Building a hotel at the park remains a controversial item. Although voters approved the concept in a referendum several years ago, initial plans fell through. Prospective developers have until next month to turn in proposals.

Two groups -- the City of Sanford Waterfront Master Plan Steering Committee and the Sanford Community Redevelopment Agency -- have been actively involved in the planning for the revitalized downtown and waterfront. These groups are made up of people with a direct interest in what happens there, such as property owners, business interests, historical societies and representatives of minorities who will be affected by the plan.

Future meetings should provide forums for more public comments.

There is a Web site -- www.sanfordriverwalk.com -- where residents can keep track of what is going on and get their opinions heard.

For people with an interest in Sanford, it is worth the time. They will have to live with the results of this renewal for a long time.